An amazing three weeks. After 5 weeks since seeing all the volunteers together we all assembled in Chiang Mai. As soon as we got there me Keina and Ruth went on a quest to find pizza! We were unsuccessful but found a place called Butter Is Better, which is an American Diner come bakery, aka heaven for me with my sweet tooth. I went many times in the 3 weeks there. The AUA course was really good, our teacher was really kind (she often bought us snacks) and I actually left knowing more Thai then I did before which is good! On the first night we all went to the Monkey Club. Billy, Lorcan and Fern (ex vols) took us there and we all had a great time. A few of us even went on the stage until security pulled us down!! Personally it was the best night club in Chaing Mai that we went to.

The following day me and Hannah got up first and so went for breakfast, western style i.e NO RICE! I went around some of the many second hand English book shops in Chaing Mai as I had already read everything that I'd brought with me. I've never read so many books in such a short space of time before I came to Thailand. In Tak there is little else to do.

After a month in Tak without any western food really, I went on a binge in Chaing Mai! Mostly cake from various bakeries, but also loads of Italian food - my favorite - I ate nothing but Italian food for the first week! The guest house we were staying at was simple but nice. The owner is really nice and when we wanted a simple Thai meal we would eat there as her food was really good and also cheap compared to everything else in Chiang Mai!

The first full weekend we were in Chiang Mai, myself and 6 others went on a trek in the mountains. It is by far my best experience in Thailand to date. We walked (yes walked!) for 3 hours on the first day up into the Hills and then stayed overnight in a hill tribe village. They were really nice there and they made us dinner (green curry) and we all slept in a large hut on the floor. It was really cold up there at night compared to the rest of Thailand as it was really high up in the hills. The next day we walked for another couple hours and our guide called Tarzan (we christened him) would stop and show some flower/bug/leaf and tell us something amazing now and then. We stopped at a waterfall and we all bathed and basically washed all the sweat off that we had got from walking in the sunlight and heat! We then walked to the elephant camp and we rode on the Elephants for 40 odd minutes. Even though it doesn't sound like a long time, after feeling my skin burning in the direct sunlight I actually wanted it to end! I was sitting, not on the chai on the Elephants back, but on the Elephants nice, and luckily I was wearing trousers as otherwise his hairs would have seriously scratched me. I was also fortunate enough to have Mr Elephant squirt me with water from his trunk . . . lovely. We then went rafting, which after being in the heat all that time was really refreshing! There were a few close shaves, but unfortunately no one actually fell off the raft!